Barriers and solutions to assessing digital library reuse: preliminary findings

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to highlight the initial top-level findings of a year-long comprehensive needs assessment, conducted with the digital library community, to reveal reuse assessment practices and requirements for digital assets held by cultural heritage and research organizations. The type of assessment examined is in contrast to traditional library analytics, and does not focus on access statistics, but rather on how users utilize and transform unique materials from digital collections. Design/methodology/approach -This paper takes a variety of investigative approaches to explore the current landscape, and future needs, of digital library reuse assessment. This includes the development and analysis of pre-and post-study surveys, in-person and virtual focus group sessions, a literature review, and the incorporation of community and advisory board feedback. Findings -The digital library community is searching for ways to better understand how materials are reused and repurposed. This paper shares the initial quantitative and qualitative analysis and results of a community needs assessment conducted in 2017 and 2018 that illuminates the current and hoped for landscape of digital library reuse assessment, its strengths, weaknesses and community applications. Originality/value -In so far as the authors are aware, this is the first paper to examine with a broad lens the reuse assessment needs of the digital library community. The preliminary analysis and initial findings have not been previously published.

Reuse of Wikimedia Commons Cultural Heritage Images on the Wider Web

“…The Digital Library Federation Assessment Interest Group (DLF-AIG) Content Reuse working group completed a 1-year Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant in 2018 to evaluate the needs and functions of a digital library reuse toolkit, and in doing so also researched digital library stakeholder interpretations of use and reuse. While refined definitions of use and reuse by the group are forthcoming, at this time and for the purposes of this paper reuse will be defined as "how often and in what ways digital library materials are utilized and repurposed" and in what contexts (O'Gara et al, 2018). Collection curators, digital librarians, and archivists find value in assessing the reuse of their digital collections in order to show the collection's reach and to determine who uses collections.…”

“…While digital library stakeholders find a great deal of value in assessing the reuse of their collections, they also find it very difficult to do. A survey administered by the DLF-AIG Content Reuse IMLS project team found that only 40% of respondents were gathering reuse data, usually from social media metrics or citation analysis (O'Gara et al, 2018).…”

“…Sometimes there are valid and commendable reasons for wishing to restrict access or mediate use and reuse of digital collections. Digital content misuse and cultural appropriation are concerns for digital library stakeholders (O'Gara et al, 2018). Ethnographic archives, especially those that document the history and cultures of marginalized populations, prove challenging to determine meaningful impact beyond simple quantitative metrics such as clicks, likes, and downloads (Punzalan et al, 2018).…”

“…institutions" project similarly identified "demonstrating and preserving media provenance" as a priority (O'Gara et al, 2018;Research:Supporting Commons contribution, 2018). Improved infrastructure for embedded or sticky" metadata may allow reuse assessment without the need for formal attribution.…”

“…What cultural heritage institutions can begin to do with this research is to determine where their digitization efforts may have the most impact and alignment with institutional goals. The DLF-AIG IMLS grant project found that digital library practitioners had different priorities for where they hoped their digital resources would be reused; for example, some institutions might find more value in reuse by nationally-recognized news organizations, others by students and scholars, still others by community groups (O'Gara et al, 2018). These goals will vary depending on the type, size, and mission of the institution the practitioner represents.…”